


Revenge Quest

by beth_wtf15



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Angst, Betrayal, Family, Friendship, Memory Loss, Wonderland
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-02
Updated: 2018-11-21
Packaged: 2019-04-17 07:20:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14183808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beth_wtf15/pseuds/beth_wtf15
Summary: The Starblaster crew decided it had been too long since they had been in the same room together, and they had cause to celebrate: Lup and Barry were adopting a child! Booking a nice holiday home in Neverwinter, they settle in for a week of family fun and working out issues. But when a familiar face returns to Magnus' life, the effect of Wonderland takes its toll and his family must take up the baton and kill that slimy bastard...





	1. Static

**Author's Note:**

> Just warning you that there is the depiction of someone collapsing that may be similar to someone having an epileptic fit? If you're sensitive to that, just keep that in mind.
> 
> This is my first fic so be gentle with me! I thought there was a real need for some revenge questing in the fandom and as some asshole said once, "If there's a *fic* you want to read and no one has written it yet, you have to write it," (probably not the accurate quote but ah well!).

The day of Story and Song had symbolized the world’s darkest hour. The apocalypse had taken a lot from the world that day; so much family lost to the shadows, so many friends cut down by the hordes, and so many homes destroyed by the Hunger. But a lot of good came from the apocalypse. Unlikely friends were made out of strangers, people taking up arms side by side and becoming sister and brothers in the face of almost definite destruction. The rich who found that their ignorance had clouded the worth of their fellow citizens reached out after that day and branched their wealth to bring others out of poverty. Enemies whose petty battles could not blot out the dark cloud that loomed above them fought proudly together and forgot all meaningless trouble for tentative fondness. Loves and friendships grew out of a grief that would cut into the world forever but as the concrete of civilization cracked, it forced the nature of the people to bloom forth and repair the wounds to create a stronger and more flexible defense than concrete had ever been. The world was better however imperfect, but people fought harder for the hope encapsulated by the vision that Istus had offered the Seven Birds that day as they finally learned to land.

***

The crew of the Starblaster was able to finally rest and find homes in this world that had welcomed them so fervently. In fact, four years had passed before any of them realized that they had not all been in the same room since the rebuilding year. Obviously, this could not do, and it had been Lup and Barry who had taken the initiative to change this situation, already having an excuse to get together.

“We’re adopting!” Lup screamed down each of their stones of far-speech. They had received the profile of a half-elven child named Hana who had been orphaned by the Hunger and had been a lone-ranger for a while since. The agency they’d talked to had picked her up from a hospital after she’d been beaten quite badly by a band of thugs on the road and Lup would have none of that, hoping to give her a home that neither she nor her brother had had growing up. They had turned out fine, but it was a life that had sucked. So as Hana would be arriving to be picked up at the Neverwinter train station in a month, the happy couple decided to rent a holiday home on the outskirts of the city so that they could enjoy a final week without the responsibilities of parenthood with their family. It had seemed like a nice idea and they had planned so much for that week around just hanging out but they hadn’t been prepared for what eventually happened. An imperfection that had remained in this world would show itself, and this time the fight was too personal to ignore.

When the day finally arrived, Lup and Barry were the first to arrive. They stepped through onto the porch of the house through a rift they’d made and nearly scared the man waiting to give them their keys to death. After they’d left him scrambling away from the two of them and almost feeling sorry for him through the giggles (that was easily the best part of their new job) they turned to the house. It was practically made of glass with the number of windows it had. It was high-Neverwinter fashion, and they could see the angular and simplistic design of the furniture and architecture from the outside. As they went to open the door to their fancy holiday home, they heard a _thmph_ and yell come from behind them that made Lup’s heart swell.

“COULDN’T WE HAVE JUST TAKEN THE _TRAIN_! That _shit SUCKS_!” she heard Taako shout as he dramatically fell out of the rift that split in the air. A cloaked figure walked out after him laughing, a tonne of baggage all pastel and patterned tucked under his arms. Taako took Kravitz’s free hand and pulled himself up as he looked around, the reaper deftly brushing some dirt off of his partner’s sequinned trousers. Lup squealed to get her brother’s attention and that it did as, before either Barry or Kravitz could prepare themselves, the two ran from their partners and collided in the street. They had last seen each other but a couple of months ago but considering how their lives had been pre-apocalypse, it had been way too long! They both spoke over each other as they talked, their voices too similar to really distinguish the speaker, but their looks had changed enough over the years to finally be able to tell them apart; Taako was sticking to his long hair and his peroxide bleach colour while Lup had opted for a short cut with severe bangs coloured with reds and oranges stemming from her naturally dark roots Barry remembered fondly a time when Taako had pretended to be Lup for a day to further the slowly developing relationship between the Starblaster’s science officer and his sister. It had been weird and Lup was pissed but it worked somewhat because at least they bonded out of shared frustration at the wizard. Not really paying attention to the two of them, Barry made his way over to Kravitz and after hugging his friend and brother, he helped collect all of Taako and Kravitz luggage (which was mostly Taako’s if we’re to be honest) and began to walk to the house side by side.

“Holy shit! Is that Krav’s tee-shirt?” Lup suddenly said, interrupting as Taako complained about the shitty nail polish she had recommended. The shirt in question was some metal band’s merch with a cool flaming skull on it and the band’s name in infernal at the bottom.It had been scrunched up into a crop top and tied around his waist. Taako momentarily blushed before waving away his embarrassment with a poorly manicured hand and raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah and what!? It doesn’t take forty years to get serious, _Lup_!” he said, his distinct voice drawing the attention of the Dragonborn family on the lawn opposite their house. The twins looked over and saw that they all seemed to recognize them, and the elves blew a kiss their way, their audience delighted. Legendary status suited them.

The next to arrive was Magnus and Merle walking up the steep hill from the station. Magnus had both their bags piled into his arms while Merle walked along with a bag of chips casually clutched in his wooden fingers.

“So, what would be your advice for the new parents, Earl Merle?” Magnus scoffed as the house came into their line of sight. Merle looked at him affronted.

 “I’ll have you know that I am a brilliant dad… now.” Magnus laughed again, leading Merle to kick the human in his shin. “I’d like to see _you_ try, Mr ‘I tormented Angus McDonald for the first year I knew him’ Burnsides.” Magnus gasped so hard, a toiletry bag dropped from the top of the pile.

“You threatened to kill the kid several times!” Magnus shouted, catching the dropped bag with a deft foot and kicking it back onto the top of the pile. “And I think you’ve forgotten that I’m practically raising the kid!”

“Yeah yeah, I get it. You’re his dad and all that. But I’m definitely the coolest uncle, and he and Mavy are like this,” Merle huffed, struggling to cross his middle finger over the other on his real hand.

Magnus nodded at this laughing, unable to deny that fact, but his mind went to the boy detective who was staying at Carey and Killian’s this week and wondered whether he would be okay without him. Not that Carey and Killian weren’t capable aunts, it’s just that Magnus’ nerves got the better of him when both his ten dogs (no exaggeration) and Angus weren’t there for him to ensure their safety and comfort. The kid was practically his now after he needed a solid home between terms at school and Magnus had agreed to adopt him. The boy detective had many aunts and uncles which included his old boss and the grown-ass men who’d bullied him for a little while there, but he seemed happy after settling in with Magnus. The man made a great father to all who had seen the two together and he often thought about how proud Julia would have been if she could see just how far he’d come since her death.

The sun was beginning to set when they made their way into the house and it had almost set when the last guests arrived. A blue Neverwinter taxi came to a halt outside the house and two people stepped out. Davenport whistled as he saw the house and began remarking on the architecture of it, pulling down his captain’s hat (gifted to him by the twins when he’d first bought his boat) to shade his eyes from the setting sun. Lucretia blinked at the house and held back as the taxi pulled away, her hands shaking as she clutched her bag. Davenport looked over.

“Come on Lucretia,” he coaxed. Lucretia didn’t even look at him and stared fixated on the house, her chest heaving. Everyone else had lost contact accidentally, so wrapped up in their own lives and the way years just flew by for them but Lucretia had isolated herself from the IPRE gang somewhat actively, and it had been Davenport who had chased her up on this when he’d received the invite, knowing she would have tried to find an excuse not to go. Lucretia finally looked away from the setting sun and turned to him.

“This was a bad idea,” she said and started to walk back down the hill. Davenport sighed and ran to grab her sleeve.

“You are not leaving me with these chucklefucks,” Davenport said lightly, almost making Lucretia laugh before the smile fell off her face; that was a Taako-ism.

“I bet he wouldn’t want me here. I bet they would _all_ rather I leave before they know I was here at all- “

“Lucretia, please,” Davenport said, tugging on her sleeve again. “You can’t keep beating yourself up over this! Because of you, the world is safe. You did what you had to.”

Lucretia looked back over her shoulder at the house, seeing her family through a window popping a bottle of champagne open, laughing. It had been a while since she’d fit into this picture.

“I did too much.”

But in the end, Lucretia had nowhere else to go, she was hungry, and the idea of the twin’s food made her stomach growl. Also, Davenport had instructed Avi to block her bracer’s signal for the week, so she was stuck on earth until Sunday. So, Lucretia followed her friend back towards the house and before they’d even reached up to knock, Magnus had opened the door; he’d seen them coming through the window. He beamed at the two of them.

“Luce!” he exclaimed before she received her trademark Magnus hug. Lucretia still remembered over a century ago when Magnus stepped in to fight off who’d taken unkindly to her in that bar, the memory of that fight never truly fading off his face throughout that long journey. He held a dear place in her heart, as she was sure he did in everyone else’s. When the hug ended, Magnus looked down at Davenport and saluted. “Cap’n Port.”

Davenport chuckled as he saluted the man tiredly. “Please don’t bring that back, Magnus,” he sighed but welcomed the all-encompassing hug that came down to welcome him. The rest of the group had moved from the dining room to meet them and seeing them all in one place made Lucretia’s heart ache painfully. Magnus, whose friendship she’d kept at arm’s length: Davenport, who’d lost so much that he could only remember his name: Barry, whom she’d avoided like the plague: Lup who’d suffered encased within her own weapon for years: Merle, who had lost an arm on one of her errands: and Taako, who had lived twelve years in solitude with a hole in his heart where the memory of his heart had been. The guilt was as she thought it would be, enormous and difficult to ignore, especially as Taako was now seemingly being dragged towards her by Kravitz. She pushed this apprehension down to greet each of them who all welcomed her enthusiastically, seemingly glad to have her in their company once more, all except Taako who said very little to her other than a ‘hello’ when he pulled her in for a short and cold hug. Lucretia was pained to see his face; he wasn’t glaring angrily but he definitely wasn’t smiling, a sense of indifference blocking him from her. This was going to take a while.

“You two need champagne!”Lup chimed, feeling the coldness in the aftermath of their greeting. “Taako’s already popped it so you better get it while it’s bubbly!” She pulled Lucretia and Davenport into the kitchen but not before momentarily sending a scathing look her brother’s way. At least one twin liked her, Lucretia thought. Moving through the house, the two newest arrivals noticed that the inside looked incredible! Everything was sleek and modern with stylish and comfy looking sofas that were organized in front of a large fireplace bookshelf that had a large white square above the mantel. Lucretia thought that this was a strange and rather boring piece of art but moved on. Stairs led up to the balcony that led to the rest of the second floor, doors to bedrooms and bathrooms upstairs visible from the lower level. With almost the whole outside of the house being made of glass, every inch of the interior was now bathed in the orange and pink light of the setting sun, a beautiful effect considering that most everything in here was white so the light acted like paint on the monochrome surfaces of the house. Small steps led into the dining room and kitchen where bags of food were set on the counters and some cabinets were already stocked full; Lucretia found herself wondering how they were going to eat it all in a week but was sure the twins had a plan. Despite having never really been here before, Lucretia felt, underneath the guilt and pain that she was still feeling, that she was home again.

After Lup had poured two hissing glasses of champagne, she turned to Lucretia excitedly. “Oh! I’ve _just_ got to show you something. It’s gonna blow your fucking mind, Luce.”

From behind them, they heard Magnus shout from the living room, “Are we showing them the thing?”

“Hell yeah, we are!” Lup replied, pulling Lucretia and Davenport away from the kitchen and onto the stylish sofas. Everyone except Taako sat down with them, excited to see their reaction to whatever was about to happen. Taako simply stayed standing and looked towards the kitchen longingly.

“I’m uh… I’m gonna start on dinner, Lulu,” he said, quietly bending down to say this in Lup’s ear. The same scathing look crossed her face but Taako was already gone and seeing this, Kravitz followed him impatiently. Lup sighed deeply before continuing with the demonstration; the show must go on after all.

“A bonus to the house is that we get the latest in Neverwinter tech, and they invented this new thing that I’ve had my eye on for a while,” she said, pulling out a wand. Inspecting it, Lucretia found nothing extraordinary about it but a brand name had been cut into the side of it and was made out of some sort of plastic instead of wood. But when Lup pointed it towards the white space above the fireplace, a thin stream of humming light came from it.It hit the wall and it spread into the image of a well-dressed and preened half-orcish man. As his face filled the white space, both Lucretia and Davenport yelled slightly in shock which amused their family around them greatly, Lup and Magnus struggling to breathe and Barry chuckling quietly from an armchair. After a while, the two noticed that the man in the illusion was seated at a desk and had figures and words floating on the wall in the background, but they also noticed that he was talking in a low and official voice. Lup, satisfied with the reaction from Lucretia and Davenport, said, “This is a wand of broadcasting. It allows you to watch whatever your local studio is putting out using a heck of a lot of illusion magic. But that isn’t even the coolest thing about it!” she cheered, dispelling the magic and handing the wand to Magnus. With a show-off grin that Taako would be worthy of, Magnus took the wand and flourished it dramatically and somewhat clumsily towards the wall and, to the surprise of Lucretia and Davenport, the same effect happened. The same bead of light shot out of one end of the wand and the same orcish man appeared who was now showing a picture of a local celebrity making out with another local celebrity.

“Have you been studying magic?” Davenport asked in amazement, adjusting his captain's hat that had become lop-sided

“I mean, with how much time I spend around wizards, you’d think I would know at least _something_ by now. But no, it’s just a wand that apparently feeds off the magical current in the air but only casts this one spell” Magnus said, glancing over at Lup who watches on like a proud mother.

 

As Lucretia took the wand and began to turn it over, low conversation started to hum in the room. Taako watched on from the kitchen, a carrot half-chopped in front of him. Kravitz had been watching him from the far-side of the room, a worried expression half-hidden in the low light.

“Hey, hun? Could you pour me some more bubbly?” Taako murmured as he resumed his cutting. Kravitz did so and refilled his own glass before handing one to Taako and clinking their glasses together.

“Thought I’d join you before you started to look weird and lonely,” Kravitz said, taking a sip of the now lukewarm champagne.

“Weird? No doubt. Lonely? Never.” Taako swigged a bit of champagne before continuing onto a leek. Kravitz saw the danger in the situation and began to pull his drink away from him; he’d already had a couple. “Come on and help me with this, seeing as my sous-chef is occupied,” Taako said, turning his head to look at Lup who was now bent over a napkin and was drawing an arcane equation for Lucretia and Barry who were also leaned in to listen to her. Kravitz rolled his eyes and walked over to his partner.

“I know what you’re doing,” Kravitz muttered into Taako’s ear. Taako shrugged as he retrieved a pan from the cabinet, a long ear twitching which whacked his boyfriend lightly on the nose. As he continued with dinner, he kept his eyes averted from Kravitz’s gaze.

“I’m not doing anything.”

“My point exactly, love.”

“That doesn’t make sense-”

“Taako.”

“ _What?”_ Taako hissed, now staring Kravitz down. Kravitz’s eyes were almost all black except for the red iris which would intimidate anyone if only Taako didn’t have a twin and dorky brother-in-law with the exact same ones. They stood quietly like this for a while as the unspoken battle of wills raged on.

Finally, Kravitz muttered, “You know, you’re going to have to talk to her about this at some point. You can’t keep avoiding your family.”

“Yeah? Well, I have some rules on family, my dude. You’re out of it if you betray ’em,” Taako said through gritted teeth as he violently poured oil into a heating pan, a fit of laughter erupting from the room next door. As the darkness grew outside, flames started to erupt automagically into glass orbs that were hung around the house and the dimming daylight was outshone by the flickering light now illuminating the glass house.

“Are you trying to say that you don’t consider her family? After all that you’ve been through- “

“Look, Krav!” Taako exclaimed, throwing his arms into the air and facing him while making sure to keep his voice somewhat low. “It’s gonna take me a while, okay! I forgot my sister’s very existence for fuck's sake! I have seen shit that I wouldn’t have had to go through alone if only she had given us more time to find her before she blew our brains to shit. That’s a fucking big thing to forgive, and Taako doesn’t usually do forgiveness.” Taako finished his speech with his arms stretched out to the sides and was breathing heavy with indignation. Lowering them, he finished by saying quietly, “Don’t I deserve time to be angry, Krav?”

Kravitz wasn’t sure how to answer that. Sure, he deserved it, but it _had_ been five years. Time did move differently for them all as they were all well over a century old and Kravitz could relate, but Kravitz had seen a different relationship between the two of them, one where they supported and loved each other like everyone else on that ship did. He wanted them to make up as it was clearly killing Lucretia as well. With a sad heart, Kravitz got on helping Taako with dinner and accepted the uneasy silence that fell between them. This would come up again.

Over by the sofas, the broadcast was still on and they’d figured out what about a; the numbers floating behind the man were about. Around a year ago, Artemis Sterling pronounced the city-state of Neverwinter ready to go ahead with their first democratic elections. Now, they were down to four candidates and tonight was to be a public address from each of them. When the speeches began, everyone watched as each candidate rose to the podium and gave their address in the center of the city. There was a half-elven man named Alexander Bates who was dressed much too like John for Merle to trust him much. Another was a blue Tiefling named Hope Fernalle who looked very young for a government official but her white eyes seemed wise and understanding and her speech was meaningful and inspiring. A Tom Bodett from Rockport stood proudly on the podium and Magnus and Merle got up close to the illusion to determine if he was either the water hose Bodet or the train crash Bodet, the rest of them tittering as they weighed up the evidence. But while they were up close to the illusion, the scene changed to another candidate. It was a human man who had dark blonde slicked back hair and dark shifty eyes. His name came up as Horace Shepherds but as Magnus’ eyes came to look at him, a confused look crossed his face. Magnus started to stumble back, his foot knocking into the glass coffee table slightly and his frame starting to crumble. His face was full of fear and shock as a single word left his lips:

“Static.”

Everyone was quiet for a second, watching Magnus staring at the man’s face, large and imposing on the wall. Lucretia sat very still, her entire body tensing painfully with shock but Lup had gotten up and had started to walk towards the human as Merle had started to grab his arm, a worried look on his face.

“What do you mean, Mags?” Merle asked, his voice shaking and trying not to sound as anxious as he was. Lup had placed a hand on his back and was trying to look at her friends face which she could see was still wide-eyed. Various others in the room had began to move forward, others stayed still.

“His face is…” Magnus began before blinking and shaking his head. “I don’t… understand. Fischer is…” he started to say before he looked down at Merle in realisation, “or maybe Wonderl-“

At that moment, Magnus collapsed. Lup screamed as his weight fell on her and Merle pulled on his friend’s arm, panicked. Hearing the scream, Taako and Kravitz abandoned dinner and ran into the room. Everyone else ran shouting to help Lup bring him safely to the ground. Lucretia still sat on the sofa, a shaking hand over her mouth and tears falling from her dark chestnut eyes. Several stylish pillows were brought from the sofa to put underneath his head as Magnus’ eyes lulled around in his skull. Once he was safe and still on the ground, various checks were made by Merle and it was determined that his heartbeat was erratic, and he was visibly sweating profusely. Taako, shaking from the panic of seeing his friend like this, grabbed the wand from where it had been put on the coffee table and turned to Lup, turning off the illusion.

“What the _fuck_ , Lup!” he shouted, brandishing it with an anger that was clearly, to Lup, founded out of worry.

“If you’re about to say that _that_ somehow caused this shit, you can forget it,” Lup retorted pointing both at Magnus’ body and at the wand threatening to be broken in half by Taako’s tight grip. “Do you see anyone else collapsing?”

“Maybe Magnus has a condition!” Taako shouted back, the wand coming a little too close to getting stabbed in Barry’s face and tears starting to brim in Taako’s honey coloured eyes. This was not how Lup planned this weekend to go.

“He said static,” a quiet voice said slowly, and everyone turned to Lucretia. She had made her way over to kneel next to Magnus’ head and lowered his eyelids to cover his lulling eyes. “It was the same effect Fischer had. Magnus even said it himself.”

“Fischer and his offspring are gone,” Davenport interjected, Merle moved to stand in front of the wall, as if to catch a train of thought that had disappeared as the illusion had.

“Taako, could you put the thing back up?” he asked, and before Taako could protest, Lup had grabbed the wand and had brought it back up. Suddenly, the same man’s face came up as he finished his impassioned speech. “Is there any way to pause the image?” Lup started to turn the wand over to look for such a function but Davenport had simply raised a calloused hand and the image stopped, the man’s face mid-point and a small smile curled into the left side of his face. Merle turned his head to one side, thinking something over. Merle opened his mouth to say something, sighed before continuing with “Did he say Wonderland?” as Taako started to stand by his side, the two of them silhouetted by the illusion.

“That seems to be the case, my dude.”

“Holy shit,” Lup exclaimed as she caught up and Barry seemed to catch up with the rest of them. Everyone else present simply looked at them impotently.

“Are you going to reveal what revelations you’re coming to?” Davenport asked. Lucretia had left the room in this time to grab a wet flannel and had draped it over her unconscious friend’s head to cool the fever that was growing. Taako turned, hiding his anxious fidgeting with his usual flourish.

“Because of the effect Fischer had on all of us,” Taako explained, pointedly avoiding Lucretia’s hard glare, “would it be safe to say that all mind-wipey magic had a similar staticky effect?”

“I would say so,” Davenport replied, aware of the tension between the two wizards and hoping Taako would move off this subject quickly.

“And would you say that Fischer’s magic was all-around rather nice? It wasn’t malicious, is what I mean.”

“It was a natural and neutral force, if that’s what you’re getting at, yes,” Lucretia said, an edge to her voice that Taako ignored.

“Well! What if a similar type of magic was cast in a specifically malicious and _suffering_ inducing manner?” Taako said with emphasis, Lucretia’s gaze shooting up to meet Taako’s finally.

“You don’t mean-?” Lucretia began, pain and fear visible in her eyes.

“Exactly,” Merle finished. “We were made to sacrifice several things in Wonderland, but Magnus lost something really quite dire. He landed on mind on the wheel and was made to pick between forgetting Julia and…”

“…the slimy bastard who killed her,” Lup now said, still looking up into the face of the man on the wall.

“Right,” Taako said joining her in glaring at the illusion. “Maybe that spell made it so that if you try to think about what you were made to forget, it fucks with your brain a bit? Those liches did warn us not to try and remind him.” Now, a good portion of the people present were staring daggers at the man still grinning in the illusion.

“But… okay,” Davenport stuttered, jumping off the sofa and standing on the coffee table, seeing the vengeful looks in the eyes of his crew. “We can’t just go and kill a guy because we _think_ he may be Julia’s killer! All the evidence so far points to that being the fact, _but_ I would like to remind you all that; firstly, murder is illegal;” at this Lup, Taako and Merle rolled their eyes, “secondly, we couldn’t even do it under the radar as we are, as Lup would put it lightly, legendary; and thirdly, if we get this wrong, we kill an innocent man.”

“Let me at least answer one of those queries, Captain,” a low voice said as Kravitz spoke up for the first time in a while. He had his reaper’s tome floating before him and his red eyes were flaring as he looked down at the page. “What was the name of Julia’s killer, again?”

“Governor Kalen. We don’t know any of his other names,” Barry spoke up. Taako and Merle looked surprised for a second before realising that, yes, Barry had been present when Magnus had rolled mind. Kravitz’ eyes flared again before sending the book sailing towards where Barry and Lup were stood and the couple caught it with a deftness that Taako was still uncomfortable seeing his sister possess. The two reaper’s eyes flared the same way as they turned it to face the rest of the group. ‘Governor Andrew Wallace Kalen’ was printed on the page.

“Hm, that’s funny. I didn’t see him being an Andrew,” Taako muttered.

“I can pull the true image of Kalen from the book to cross-reference it to the illusion,” Kravitz said, about to summon back his book but Lup held out a hand.

“I’m on it,” she chimed, before placing a hand an inch off the page, closed her eyes and waited. The whole room watched as a wind began to pick up around the elf, her short red and orange hair flying like a flame in the breeze and her red irises pulsing behind her eyelids. Taako struggled to watch his sister like this but luckily it was done rather quickly, and her eyes flashed opened. Turning back to the wall, a smile crept onto her face as she muttered, “that’s the slimy asshole, alright!”

A quick pause followed this statement before Taako shook himself of his anxiousness and screamed, “LET THE REVENGE QUEST COMMENCE!”


	2. Fireworks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lup talks about her worries, Kravitz finds out some crucial info, and Taako flies off the handle.

Dinner ended up being a lot less fancy than the twins had planned, the ratatouille being abandoned for take away pizza as the entire house buzzed with the same nervous energy that would have preceded a deadly mission during that century spent flying between worlds. The only difference here was that if shit hit the fan, they wouldn’t be coming back.

Davenport and Lucretia collected notebooks they’d found in drawers and maps from the touristic bookshelves around the house and prepared the dining room for a meeting. Davenport knew Lucretia well and, like the others, knew that she had two different ways of showing her anxiousness. One had been shown earlier that evening before they walked into this house, the way she was a lot of the time before they’d left their home planet, the tactic of scrunching her eyes shut and walk away. This was how she would have instinctively reacted to this situation if she were the same Lucretia that had left their home world more than a century ago. But since the trials and tribulations of that century and then her position as Madame Director, she’d found a more proactive outlet for nervous energy which was overworking. This was what Davenport could see she was doing now and when she’d finished laying the table with more than they’d need and then had returned from the kitchen with a pot of coffee and eight mugs, she started to move onto something else. The gnome stopped her with a raised hand.

“Lucretia. Breathe.”

“I am breathing,” she said, visibly annoyed by this interruption, “if I stopped breathing, I’d be dead.”

Davenport raised an eyebrow. “Seriously?”

Lucretia simply lowered her head, and muttered an apology before going on to say, “it’s just… a lot has happened. I think I can be forgiven for wanting to keep myself busy.” She looked away from Davenport and around her to see where the others had gone, impatiently tapping her foot.

“What do you think we _should_ do?” Davenport asked, collapsing into a chair and supporting his head with a hand. This was taking a toll on all them, and it had only happened five minutes ago.

“I don’t know. I think I could probably dig up some knowledge of arcane medicine. I know Merle is supposed to be the healer, but I’ve learned not to believe him when he says he went to fantasy Med school.”

“What about Kalen, then?”

There was a pause as the two of them thought for a second. Taako and Merle seemed pretty trigger-happy about all of this and it seemed like a bad idea to encourage it. But they understood that something needed to be done about this; Kalen was bad news and if he was trying to regain power, nothing good was going to come of this.

Upstairs in the guest bedroom, Lup, Barry, and Kravitz had gone to investigate the reaper’s tome in quiet to try and find any more information on Kalen. They knew that a name wouldn’t be in the tome unless there was a bounty on that person so using that, they studied his page to try and find more about him. Kravitz was deep in meditation and Lup and Barry simply left him to it. It was kind of dangerous to go too deep into the tome without experience and they were simply there to shake him awake if anything went wrong. So they sat there on the bed on either side of him, watching him lazily. Barry took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose, and Lup placed a hand on his arm behind Kravitz’s back, rubbing a thumb over his skin.

“I’d say that you should try and get some sleep, but I’d probably have to wake you up earlier than you’d like,” Lup said. Barry placed a hand over hers.

“The sentiment is appreciated,” he replied, placing his glasses back on his face. A comfortable silence fell between them for a while and the sounds of other conversations in the house drifted around them. Eventually, Lup started to speak the words she’d been deliberating since Magnus dropped into his coma.

“Babe, I’m not sure exactly what I’m thinking but I need them aired out,” she said. She and Barry had been together long enough to know that they could let confused words that tried to pinpoint thoughts spill out and they would decipher the mess together. The words were still wedged out of sight, but she knew she would, with a discourse to loosen them, understand them eventually. “So… that happened!”

Barry chuckled nervously and said, “Yeah, it did. I was kind of hoping that we could have a catastrophe-free weekend at least once.”

“I mean, knowing the trouble we attract and the fact that Taako is under the same roof as Lucretia, how long was that logically gonna last.” Barry recognized the same pain that he’d seen in Lup since they first booked this trip. The pain was a mixture of anxiety and frustration, and they’d already talked through that expression: Lup wanted them to all be a family again and Taako’s stubborn-ass was ruining it, and though Lup could understand his anger, she wished he would just hurry up and get it out in the open without making any irreparable comments. There was a lot there and it’s at times like this that he’s thankful that they keep each other updated on thoughts and feelings as soon as they become recognizable. It makes the catch-up a little less difficult to follow.

“We have our problems, like every family. Okay, probably not on this scale but it can’t be too different,” Barry said, and when Lup didn’t turn her gaze to him, still staring at a spot on the floor, he grabbed her hand and squeezed it. “Maybe if Taako and Lucretia are forced to work as a team, it could be that this whole Kalen thing will make everything better in the end! Maybe this is what it’ll take?”

Lup finally looked back at him over Kravitz’s still body, squeezing his hand back not as a reassurance but as a need for a solid thing to hold at that moment. “You know my fears. You know how it fucks me up to know that my brother is still not wanting to talk to her and how Lucretia had twenty fucking years of her life taken. You know that it makes me want to kill someone to think that they may not make up before Lucretia…” Lup stopped abruptly, tears welling in her eyes. Holding onto his hand for dear life, he knew what she meant. It took her a beat to continue her thought, “But I guess now I’m scared that if this goes south, Taako won’t forgive Lucretia and Lucretia wouldn’t have been able to forgive herself and… fuck!”

“There’s a lot going on behind those gems of yours,” Barry whispered, raising a hand to wipe at the tears beginning to brim. Lup laughed.

“You’re gonna fuck up my eyeliner, you fucking sap,” she said mockingly but leaning into the touch. It would have been a really cute moment if only Kravitz hadn’t woken up at that minute, between the embrace of his sister and brother in law. There was a moment pause as Kravitz assessed the arms around wrapped around him, before speaking.

“Aren’t you… gonna ask me what I found out?”

“Right,” the two outer reapers of the reaper sandwich chimed in awkward unison as they unwrapped their colleague from their embrace. Kravitz stood up quickly and excitedly turned to his in-laws.

“Basically, I found out exactly what I thought.” Kravitz paused and looked smiling between the two.

“And that was?” Lup, asked under her long eyelashes.

“That Kalen is dead.”

“No, he’s not. We saw him on the tv,” Barry said, “How can someone be alive and dead at the… oh”

Pause.

“You’re a real shitty necromancer babe.”

***

 Meanwhile, Taako and Merle got Magnus’ unconscious form up to his bedroom. Taako was staring into space as he dispelled the magic that held Magnus aloft and the human slumped onto the bed unceremoniously. Merle yelped and glared Taako’s way.

“Be careful with him, geez!” he scolded, his dad voice shining through. Taako rolled his eyes.

“We can’t possibly do more harm to him than he does to himself on the reg, my dude,” Taako chimed, as they both tried to roll him into a comfortable place so that he didn’t wake up with too many cramps. As they struggled to pull off his shoes and pull the duvet over him, Merle looked up at Taako with a seriousness that he didn’t usually inhabit, opting for the crunchy hippy vibes most beach dwarves seemed to naturally possess.

“Taako,” he said, demanding his friend’s full attention (which was begrudgingly given), “I can’t help but ask myself why we aren’t out there right now and blasting that son-of-a-bitch all the to astral plane! We promised him that we wouldn’t hesitate and here we are playing nurse!”

“I can’t believe I have been coaxed into this position of responsibility but _listen_ ,” Taako began, looking towards the open door to ensure everyone was still downstairs. Speaking quieter than usual, he said, “We are in such a different situation now than when we made that promise. We’re not just a couple of fucks who go around killing people for kicks anymore. We saved the world, we’re famous, Merle! And although I agree, I wanna get out there and firebolt that bastard to hell as much as the next guy, I have to be conscious of the fact that…”

The elf stopped, unable to continue with his train of thought, his long ears drooping and his breath getting caught in his chest. Merle offered a concerned look and stayed still on his side of the bed. Merle, along with all the memories hidden from the group, had remembered much about his crewmates. He knew that Lucretia would take feverish notes when she was more stressed than usual, that Lup would turn sadness alchemy-like into fury, and that Taako’s cool front was so meticulously constructed that if it were to crumble, you had to tread carefully to get anything out of him and avoid the anger that came from vulnerability. Taako wasn’t good with ‘talking’ outside of Lup and, apparently, Kravitz, so what Merle had learned to do was make the ‘talks’ as casual as possible and expect nothing. He took his role as ‘healer’ on the Starblaster seriously when it came to matters of the heart and mind.

“We have to be conscious of what, Taako?” Merle asked, looking out the window at the night sky, avoiding eye-contact as he knew Taako was probably doing himself. The elf sighed, pulling the duvet up underneath the human’s chin.

“We actually have stuff to lose now,” he said quietly. This revelation didn’t surprise Merle, but it still made his heart ache to think of the loneliness Taako felt during those twelve years. It was tough for them all but the toxicity Taako used to cover the holes that the memory of his sister had left made it all the more tragic and the fact that Merle couldn’t notice nor help it during that year they worked for the BOB made it worse. Taako actually took a seat on the bed, faced away from Merle now and continued to speak as Merle did the same, looking out over the city skyline. “Like, when I made that promise, I had nothing. I didn’t have Lup, Krav and I were casual _at_ _best_ and I didn’t have a home to go back to after we’d get out of that place. I had nothing.”

“But now, you have something to lose.”

“And it _suuucks_ , Merle!” The old dwarf chuckled as Taako continued his tirade. “Now, I’m in a committed goddamn relationship and about to become an uncle to my sister’s adopted child, you’re co-raising two kids and Magnus…” he paused, the two of them glancing at Magnus who was as still as death, “well, Magnus has Ango to think about.”

“Which is more than he’s had for a while,” Merle said, turning back to the skyline, the city still glowing as the election parade continued.

“Yeah, I can’t decide which is worse: not remembering that you’d lost the most important person in your life or knowing that you had everything and had lost it all for nothing.” Magnus had caught him all up on Julia and the ease with which he’d talk about her made no sense to Taako. From what he’d heard about her, even he, Taako H FromTV, mourned her.

“There is no better or worse, Taako,” Merle said, hopping off the bed, “only shit.” Offering one last look of consolation that was actively ignored, their talk was interrupted by Davenport who’d appeared in the doorway.

“Hey, come on! We’re waiting for you two downstairs,” he huffed before disappearing down the stairs, sending a rush of nostalgia through the two still left in the room. They never thought they’d ever be happy being bossed around by Davenport again.

***

Moving down to the dining room table, now strewn with a layer of random esoterica, Lucretia was stood looking down at her collection and was discussing something with the reapers. Seating themselves in the final few chairs, the six of the Starblaster crew sat quietly for a second to mark the beginning of a meeting, a tradition followed by them all and a tradition that rewarded a confused look from Kravitz. Davenport stood on a chair, adopting an air of authority, using what he lacked in height and natural stature to create an artificial command that was utterly convincing and visceral.

“So, we have a lot to consider here,” Davenport said, a hum of agreement following. “However, before going forward, I think we should hear what Kravitz found out.”

Dav stood down and motioned for the reaper to rise. He did so and cleared his throat before the group.

“Uh so basically, you know how Kalen’s name was in the book. That means that he is dead. Or has died. You know what I mean.”

“Lup, what have you done to my boyfriend?”

“The tome. It works in mysterious ways.”

“We may have also caught him between a husband-wife moment,” Barry interjected, earning a simultaneous “ew” from the twins.

“Anyway! As I was saying, Kalen is probably a lich,” Kravitz continued, “and from what I saw, he’s been a lich for a while. Probably before Raven’s Roost.”

“How long before Raven’s Roost?” Barry asked.

“A good hundred years I’d suggest.”

“And he’s been keeping himself undercover for that long? We’re not dealing with a mid-tier lich here, gang,” Lucretia added, locking her gnarled fingers together and staring at them furiously.

“It’s good we got a couple of top-tier liches coming after him then,” Lup said with a flourish, a flame appearing on her finger. Davenport looked disapprovingly at her.

“Lup, no pyrotechnics at the table-“

“Yeah, I know” she replied, extinguishing it quickly.

“I guess now we move onto how to get to him and what to do when we do?” Dav continued his speech, reassuming his place on the chair. “If you have a suggestion, do raise your hand now.” Three hands were raised: Merle, Lup, and Lucretia. After a second’s pause, the ball was passed to Lucretia.

“All I wanted to suggest is that this may be an issue that doesn’t have much to do with us. Yes, I want to do as Magnus would wish if he had a say, but I just want to play Devil’s advocate for a second and say that killing a candidate like this in the first ever democratic elections for Neverwinter could halt progress. Maybe going about this using the Magnus method of rushing in is a step that could even land us in jail! We’d be no help to Magnus at all by that point.”

“Alright, thank you, Lucretia, it’s always good to consider-“ Dav started but Taako had abruptly raised his hand. Everyone went quiet as Taako ignored the look of glaring fury being shot at him from his twin. Merle leaned over and whispered in his ear.

“I thought you were being the responsible one out of the two of us?”

“Not when Luce is spouting bullshit like that.”

Davenport still seemed unsure of what to do and raised a hand to the elf, “Taako, I want you to-“

“I want to speak,” Taako interjected. Everyone else was looking between the two nervously and when Davenport sighed and lowered himself into the seat, Taako stood, looking down his nose at Lucretia. “I just… don’t understand why we’re being cautious about this? Like, you all weren’t there when Magnus made the deal! You didn’t have to be there for him and you don’t have to deal with the guilt that you encouraged him to take the sacrifice. He trusted that it would be done and when we have the chance, we don’t take it? People know how we work! I’m sure they’d… trust that we’d make the right decision-“

“That’s absurd, Taako,” Lucretia interrupted, “we can’t just expect people to trust us. Yes, we’re somewhat admired but if we abuse that power, this notoriety we’ve acquired could actually work against us if we don’t do this carefully enough.”

“Magnus wouldn’t want us to act carefully!” Taako yelled.

“Well, maybe what Magnus wants is less important than what he needs!” Lucretia yelled in retort, the discussion spiraling quickly into an argument before the crew’s eyes. “Maybe in hindsight, it will be for the greater good.”

“Ah yes! That seems to be the way you make most decisions, Madame Director.”

Lucretia freezes in place, her eyes wide with hurt. Lup had jumped to her feet, her eyes burning with anger and Kravitz who had started to lay a hand on Taako’s hip had his hand hovering an inch away. The whole room was still for a full minute as the tension solidified around them all, but before long, Taako broke the silence by moving into the kitchen and grabbing his handbag before walking for the front door. Before he opened it, he turned to the table, his eyes hidden by his downcast hat.

“Come on, Merle. Let’s finish this,” he uttered, waiting at the door. Merle took a moment to think, looking around silently at the other members of the table but everyone was too stunned to speak. Taako, seeing the hesitation, nodded and clicked the door open. “Fine. I’ll do it myself.”

“Taako, don’t you dare,” Lup hissed through her teeth and when Taako walked out without an ounce of deliberation, she charged. Throwing the door open, she looked wildly for her brother but only saw enough to see him pop out of existence and into the ethereal plane. “You fucker!” she screamed and kicked the door frame. Merle appeared by her side and the rest of the group followed, all except Lucretia who had her fingers digging into the table, her knuckles turning white.

“We have to follow him,” Kravitz said, grabbing his cloak off the wall.

“No shit, skull-brain,” Merle snorted before leaving the doorway. Lucretia stood up quite suddenly and moved towards the door with them but Lup quickly put up a hand towards her.

“Luce, I don’t think it’s a good idea if you…”, she started but began to struggle to find much to say faced with the look of utter heartbreak on her friend’s face. After a beat, all Lup could say was “I’m sorry” before walking out, Kravitz and Barry sending apologetic looks her way as they followed her out. Lucretia watched after them with dismay before closing the door behind them.

The group started to make their way down the hill; they knew where he was headed, and they only wished that they’d get there in time.

As the house was vacated, Davenport watched them leave from the window, taking out his stone of far-speech.

“I think you all know what I want you to do. Bring him back safely and don’t let anyone get hurt, Shepherds included,” he said, before adjusting the frequency and looking to the stairs where Lucretia was now walking towards where Magnus was sleeping. Rubbing his temples, he found the frequency he wanted before saying, “Sorry, to interrupt your evening, ladies. Things have gone south here, and I reckon we’ll need extra hands on deck. Also, I think we’ll need the boy.”

***

Taako had played around with the spell ‘blink’ in recent years out of boredom, curiosity and the occasional awkward conversation. He had learned that travel was more efficient here and as he leaped in long strides and moved through obstacles painlessly, he found his mood calm and shame begin to creep up his back in earnest. The sadistic glee he’d got from watching the collected look on Lucretia’s face fall turned to guilt as he remembered the moment in high-definition. Everything had spiraled out of control and now he was hurtling towards the center of the city where lights were still shining into the sky and the noise of a crowd came to his ears. Maybe it would all be worth it if he did manage to kill Kalen? Maybe if he finished this without any consequences, he’d be justified. Right! If you find yourself in a hole, grab a shovel and just keep digging!

Taako arrived a half hour later, landing on a ledge near where the large circular stage had been placed in the middle of the city center. It was surrounded by a crowd of people all listening intently to the closing questions of the night and on the stage stood all four candidates including Kalen himself, standing too close to the tiefling woman to make a clean shot. Taako crouched and pointed his wand in his direction, trying to aim directly at his head. He didn’t want to compromise his position by moving down into the crowd but not wanting to hurt anyone else. This had to work or otherwise his shenanigans earlier wouldn’t have been worth it. But Taako could feel his righteous anger returning to him as he watched the man wave at a supporter who was screaming his fake name. Finally, Fernalle moved her head as she went to take a question from the crowd and Taako took the opportunity to rematerialize. Aiming his wand, he readied a firebolt. The spell hung on his lips and fire blazed in his eyes. Three, two…

Tom Bodett moved forward to catch a flying teddy bear form the audience and into Taako’s line of sight. Swearing as he had to cancel the spell and fire scorched his palm. He looked back at the stage to find that someone was looking directly at him. Those same eyes that had sent Magnus spiraling into a coma earlier. The same eyes that watched Magnus’ home burn with his wife inside. Those eyes were scared. Freezing in turn, Taako was just too late to react when Shepherds raised a pointed finger towards him. Taako flinched as he expected the worst before-

“Taako from TV, everyone!” Taako heard Kalen shout, his voice amplified magically. A light moved onto the wizard as he sat on the ledge and the whole crowd turned. There was a beat that seemed to last forever before the whole area went wild! Taako’s usual reaction to this sort of reception was to smile and cast dancing lights or some shit like that, but he froze, staring at the man. Somehow, Taako hadn’t expected Kalen to know him, but of course, he would. Everyone knew all seven of them including…

…Magnus.

“Come on down, Taako! I never pictured you as the shy kind,” the half-orc announcer said, his voice also reaching him from the stage. Taako shook his head a little and plastered a convincing smile on his face.

“Too right, my man. Buy me a drink and then we’ll see who’s shy,” Taako announced and found that the amplifying spell had been cast on him too as the crowd cheered and he could have sworn a couple of people fainted. Taako blinked out of existence and considered just going back to the house but he had a reputation to uphold. So, he made his way down to the stage and rematerialized in the center of the stage, Kalen of to his left covertly glaring.

“There it is, that trademark Taako charm! Give it up for our favorite extra-terrestrial cook and wizard!” the half-orc screamed. The crowd went wild and suddenly, Taako felt rather dizzy. He hadn’t been on a stage since their stint in Wonderland and it was all a little overwhelming. He found himself grounded though by a hand and as he opened his eyes, he saw the tiefling woman, Fernalle, shaking his hand and smiling.

“You get used to it,” she said, her voice as smooth as velvet and her hand firm and strong. Taako couldn’t help but notice her dress was sparkling slightly and was slim fit to her body, the light blue of her skin matching wonderfully with the shining white of her dress. He already liked her. “A pleasure to meet you, Taako.”

“You too! I love your outfit by the way,” he said, coming to as their hands parted. “Also, I’m plenty used to it, bubelah.”

Fernalle laughs and says “Right, sorry Mr. Spaceman.” The crowd quietens and the other candidate's clammer for a handshake and when Kalen comes to forth finally, Taako’s shoulder is gripped by his hand and is brought in for an aggressive handshake. Taako struggles not to blow his brains out then and there but now it’s too public, in full view.

“It truly is a pleasure, Taako. It’s a shame the rest of your family isn’t here to greet us,” Kalen said, a gleam in his eyes as the words seem to drip out of his mouth and right into Taako’s ear as the crowd throngs. Taako’s skin crawls.

“I came alone to the city I’m afraid. Everyone else is a little busy at the mo-“ but Taako is drowned out by a new wave of cheers. Something seems to part the crowd making for the stage quickly... Taako felt Lup’s eyes before he sees them, and it feels like a fist clenches his heart as Kalen continues, his hand still fixed around the elf’s.

“Now I wonder why the famous Taako would lie about something like that,” Kalen drawls, pulling him in closer, “it all seems a little suspicious. Almost as if you’re hiding something”

Taako pulls away, his nerves firing and seething with anger. His wand is leveled with the man’s eyes and time slows. He readies a spell and sees out of the corner of his eye his family climbing the stage headed by Lup. He watches as Kalen’s face morph into a face of confidence, his fear long forgotten. Taako wouldn’t do this here and he knew this. As Taako felt time start to speed up and a tight hand gripped his shoulder, the wizard raises his wand to the sky, turns to the audience and fireworks!

Fireworks erupt from Taako’s wand and a smile had plastered itself masterfully onto the elf’s face. Lup, who had just reached him, gets swept up in this display and stands next to her brother as he poses and unleashes this display. The audience is so stunned by the fireworks, that they hadn’t seemed to notice Taako’s strange actions a moment before. But as the other two reapers and Merle ascended to the stage, they were met with a similar reaction from the candidates and the crowd. They each seemed to be struggling to not kill Kalen on the spot, an expression the target of this hatred seemed to enjoy a lot. But there was also something strange about him now as he walked around; he seemed to be scanning the surrounding area rather feverishly, including the surrounding buildings and ledges. The anxiety had returned to his figure and Taako could guess why. He knew Taako wouldn’t ruin his reputation for revenge, but he knew Magnus would.

As the fireworks finished, Taako whispered to Lup who was posed next to him. He could feel her anger pulsing from her body.

“He knows Magnus is here.” His words cut off whatever angry mutterings were coming his way and she turned to him slightly, a look of confusion meeting him.

“What? How?”

“Well, I don’t think we considered the fact that he knows us like everyone else in the damn universe and probably realized who Magnus was and what he could do to him! I tried convincing him that I was alone but then-“

“- we fucking walked in. Shit!” Lup swore, holding her smile rather well despite everything.

“What do we do now?” Taako asked but Lup turned a glare on him so hard that he was worried about his cheek burning off; he never knew what fresh hell she would be able to unleash with her new divine abilities.

“I guess we just have to roll with… _this_ ,” she said slowly before getting super close and saying through gritted teeth, “but you are _so_ not off the hook, bud.”

Taako gulped a little as the crowd finally calmed enough for the half-orc man to continue.

“I’m so sorry, Neverwinter but we have run out of time! If we knew the crew of the Starblaster would be making an appearance, we would have extended the time slot!” The crowd cheered some more at this and as the man finished up the show, Taako noticed how Kalen seemed to relax a little. Turning to the twins, he grinned a little. He knew they were here now and would be expecting another attack. But the worst part was that Taako would safely bet his hat that he would be coming after Magnus soon.

And Magnus would be in no way capable of protecting himself right now.

***

Lucretia walked back downstairs and onto the sofa next to Davenport. They both sighed in unison as they sunk into the overly comfy couch.

“Is Magnus okay?” Davenport mumbled.

“The man’s asleep. He can do less harm to himself in this state than he usually does if that’s any consolation.”

Lucretia raised the Wand of Broadcasting up and turned on the illusion. Through half-closed eyes, she caught a glimpse of the screen, and what she saw made her almost jump up in shock and anger: Taako fucking leveling his wand at Governor Kalen’s forehead.

“WHAT THE HELL IS HE DOING?!” Davenport yelled, but a second later, the rest of crew arrived on the stage and the sky was filled with fireworks with the twins posing through the swirl of shit they were in. The two relaxed back into the sofa a little and couldn’t believe both their luck and their misfortune.

“This isn’t going to go well is it?” Lucretia breathed.

“Where the Tres Horny Boys are concerned, nothing will go as planned.”

“I think we did rather well in our adventuring years if you ask me.”

This third voice made Lucretia and Davenport jump up anew. The wand was raised, the illusion was dispelled. Bot turned to look at where the voice had come from and found both what they feared and hoped would be true.

“Ugh, what did you guys let me drink?” Magnus said, rubbing his temples methodically.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. Late much.
> 
> If you read the first chapter when it first came out and are returning, thank you for your patience. Exams are in full swing over here as they are everywhere and it's just been generally busy. If you read the first chapter more recently, thank you for reading! This chapter was so much fun to write and I can't wait to get into this. I hate Kalen the more I write him!
> 
> (Also apologies for any grammar or spelling or shitty writing issues, it was late when I finished this off. I wanted to get this out quickly).
> 
> Thanks everyone! Beth x


	3. Dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taako faces the consequences of his actions, Magnus has a frightening dream, and three visitors arrive late at night to help solve the case!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I KNOW I KNOW IT'S BEEN A WHILE!
> 
> Thank you for waiting sooooo long. This one is short simply to get it out but I hope there is enough here to entertain you!

Once the half-orc presenter had walked away and the crowds started to press in on the stage, Barry pulled Merle into the Astral plane as Kravitz disappeared himself. Lup had already shoved Taako into a hole and they both had disappeared as soon as the show was over. This did not bode well, Barry thought to himself as he made his way into the Astral Plane and closed the tear behind him. Kravitz appeared a few metres away. As Barry began to search for the best way back into the Material Plane, Merle spoke up, struggling a little against the scarcity of oxygen.

“So that’s the fucker! I’d have grabbed his… neck and… ringed it ‘till… ah shit.” Merle was now doubled over with his hands on his knees, struggling for air.

“Yep, I wouldn’t recommend trying to speak here, bud. There’s not enough oxygen to go around for fleshy still living folks like you,” Barry assured, feeling around for a link.

“Yeah… I got that… now could you…?”

“Found it,” Barry said before slicing through the air and leading his dwarven friend through the tear into the front room of the house. Kravitz walked in a second later to see Davenport and Lucretia standing in front of them anxiously.

“I’m so glad you’re back, something has happened-” Davenport started before he found that two of his party had not yet returned. A look of concern fell over his face before asking, “Where’s Lup and Taako?”

The second these words left his mouth, a final tear in reality opened and out fell Taako who collapsed clutching his chest. Lup exited after him, her bare skull shaded beneath her red cloak, actual fire blazing in her ethereal eyes. The sight was so menacing that even Barry and Kravitz were taken aback.

“Uh, babe?” Barry said tentatively. A flaming skull turned in his direction.

“What?” Her voice was low and grating, cold in its delivery but burning in its intention.  
“What… uh… happened, babe? Over there, I mean?” 

“We had a little chat.”

“Pretty one-fucking-sided chat!” Taako croaked from the ground, raising to his knees. 

Lup shrugged, her face reappearing and suddenly seeming nonchalant. “No oxygen, no voice. Easiest argument ever.” 

Taako raised a hand to his head nursing the dizzy sensation that had come over him. Looking up to meet the mixture of concern and anger coming from the people around him, he saw Kravitz kneel down to steady him as he began to stand.

“You okay, love?” Kravitz muttered to his partner who was now leaning on the reaper as his support. In response Taako coughed hoarsely with a wry smile on his lips.

“Pissed but fine. I’m glad someone’s not mad at me.”

“Oh no, I’m furious with you. I’m just making sure you live to get chewed out for being so fucking stupid.” His voice was calm to the point where if you couldn’t speak a word of common, you would assume he was being kind.

“Ah… got it,” Taako replied, looking away from him, rolling back and onto the sofa. Looking up towards the ceiling, one hand on his forehead, he said dramatically “Alright, let me have it.”

Looking slightly on the spot, everyone looked at Lup who simply shrugged and said, “I’ve had my fill, go for it.”

Davenport spoke first.

“Taako, you not only endangered yourself, but you endangered the mission and most importantly Magnus. You let your emotions cloud your judgement and now, Kalen knows we’re here and will be coming for Magnus. He is on guard, we have no element of surprise meaning he has the upper hand and we are disadvantaged. You have been stupid, arrogant and selfish to do this and I cannot believe that you have not learnt in your hundred plus years how to bloody control yourself!”

Taako looked suddenly much less flippant, now looking like a child who’d been scolded. Everyone stood around Davenport and had started to speak all together, voicing their complaints but Taako wasn’t listening. He’d endangered Magnus, for what? Because he wanted to one up Lucretia? This was stupid, and he was stupid. The noise around him continued to mount as the crew became increasingly furious at him, but they could not be angrier at Taako than he was already angry at himself.

“Now we have to find a completely new angle to attack from and we even have less time to figure it out before Kalen comes knocking in full lich form!”

“And he has minions, I bet you! Kalen could be off somewhere being all smiley and wavey, but they could come for us and Magnus at any time!”

“You put Magnus in so much danger, his life was at stake”

“Danger? Did Taako try to make me drink something funky?” Everyone except Davenport and Lucretia jumped in shock to see Magnus standing by the door, not only awake, but with arms full of food packaged in brown paper bags. He looked oblivious to the whole situation and smiled kindly at Taako who looked on the verge of tears. “It’s okay, Taako. I have a high constitution! You know I once downed three whole bottles of fantasy Jager once.”

Magnus had only finished his sentence when he was bombarded with hugs. First Merle who had taken to his shins, then Lup, Lucretia and Barry. Kravitz looked happy, but surprised. Taako simply sat on the couch looking guiltily at his friend. Magnus wasn’t one to turn down a hug but was confused at the reception.

“Hey, what’s going on? Everything alright?”

“Yeah, we’re just glad you’re okay,” Merle replied, wiping a tear from his eye.

Magnus simply eyed the dwarf and said, “Ooookay.” Turning to Davenport who had his face in his hand, Magnus pulled out a long list. “I er got mostly everything on your list but when I asked where the Shnorlenflumps were, the woman at the door asked me to leave. Why did you need all this food anyway?”

“To eat.” Davenport simply said, before taking a large fake yawn and saying, “Ah, what a day it’s been! Maybe we should get some rest before the long week ahead of us!”

“Yes, we should sleep!” Barry agreed and began to pull Lup from where she was still seething and Kravitz pulled Taako up from where he lay and took him upstairs as well. Everyone else started to make their way to the stairs but Magnus watched forlornly as they went.

“Wait, weren’t we gonna drink ourselves stupid and watch the sun come up?”

“Not tonight, bud,” Merle said from the upper floor, looking through the glass balustrade down at him, “and remember? You already drank yourself stupid.”

“I suppose I did, though I don’t remember drinking much. I’m sorry if I was a pain.”

Merle couldn’t help a sad smile break through. “It wasn’t and will never be any trouble. Sleep well.”  
As the dwarven man disappeared, Magnus sat himself down on the sofa and looked out at the stars twinkling in the dark sky shining through the glass ceiling of the house.

* * *

“Magnus? Magnus wake up…”

Opening his eyes to the bright sunlight, Magnus wiped the sleep from his eyes. He saw the dappled light streaming through the willow tree’s canopy above him and a face looked down on him, the sunlight creating a halo around their head. Focussing, he could see it was a woman with tan skin covered in freckles and dark hair that curled around her face and shoulders, secured with a bandana in dull warm colours. He gazed up at her, trying to ignore the sadness well up within him. 

“I’m awake, Julia, don’t worry. You head back, I won’t be a moment.” The woman laughed, patting the two dogs at their feet to move.

“You know you can’t sit here forever.” Magnus, stared at her for a while, taking her calloused hand in his own.

“You can’t make me leave.”

She smiled that warm smile that she always used to have before leaning to kiss him. He savoured these dreams, whenever they came around. He would never stop grieving her, but he had accepted her death; this was simply human indulgence into things that could never be again. She got up and left, the dogs at her heel as she walked away towards the Raven’s Roost column that was his home. He watched her take the stairs and ladders up towards their shop and disappear into the construct, but he looked until he saw the last of her blue dress disappear. He sighed and started to rise when he heard a noise, a terrible noise.

First a whistling, then a shrieking, followed by the loudest catastrophe Magnus could ever imagine hearing. Next thing he knew, the column was burning. 

Magnus stood in a shocked silence and before he knew it, he was running. His speed was something he’d never experienced before, his legs carrying him faster than he’d ever imagined and before long, the door to the Hammer and Tongs was flung open and it was too late: Julia and her father lay dead on the floor. Magnus broke down, crawling for his wife and gathering her into his arms. His dreams had never been this vivid and so horrifying, why was this happening? He sobbed into her chest as she stared blankly up at him and a drawling voice sounded from behind him, static underlying every word it spoke.

“You rebelled, you ruined everything and this is the price you payed-”

Magnus leaped for the voice, but he stopped when he saw the figure, now revealed behind the smoke. The outline was of a man but within that outline was just solid static. No shadow to signify cheekbones or brows, light disappearing into him like a black hole. Magnus shook his head as the figure approached and eventually the human collapsed, the static behind the words mounting to an insufferable volume. The figure was now looming over him, his wide mouth black on the static with large white teeth gleaming. It drawled, “You’re pathetic, Magnus, and helpless to save her. Ha! you can’t even remember who killed her! You will never find justice and neither will sh-”

“Magnus!”

He woke up with a jump and found Lucretia’s face looking worriedly down at him, two sturdy hands shaking him awake. Magnus felt himself sweating and shaking slightly on the sofa where he’d gone to sleep that evening: he hadn’t wanted to go to bed that night.

“Hey… Luce… what are you doing up?” The woman was wrapped in a fancy silk blue dressing gown with the letters M.D embroidered into it. She had dark circles under her eyes and seemed to have an air of nervousness around her in the dim light around them.

“I couldn’t sleep. Was having a crazy dream about being suffocated in a sea of sequins and feather boas.”

“Wow, I wonder what that means?”

“My first guess would be that I am in real danger of Taako suffocating me in my sleep but let’s not go too deep into that.” Lucretia sat next to Magnus and wrapped herself up in her comfy looking gown, turning to him worriedly. “It looked like you were having a pretty terrible dream yourself?”

“Ah yeah… that,” Magnus said, both wanting and not wanting to talk about it simultaneously. He decided that Lucretia was a safe bet to tell, her not being the type to brush it off like Taako but not go all out shitty therapist like Merle would. She would be chill, so he told her. She listened carefully as he went through it step by step. She looked sad, but she smiled when Julia was mentioned. But it was when the figure came up that she sat up a little, more alert.

“Static? That’s funny…”

“It is. Do you think it-”

“And is that what he said? Word for word?

“Maybe, I might not have remembered it correctly, but-”

“Have you had that dream before?”

“Not the end. Why? It is like important?”

“No reason. It’s just… interesting.”

“Yeah… I guess…”

Magnus was now sure that this was worse than both being brushed off and interrogated with insistent love and affection. It was like a doctor had just uncovered an interesting medical anomoly. Why was this such a big deal? Lucretia turned to him again after a minute of thinking and seemed cautious, like she were diffusing a bomb.

“Magnus, could I get a bit of second wind on something.”

Magnus looked her up and down, searching for a meaning to this new line of questioning. “Yeah, sure Luce.”

“Say I had an enemy who’d suddenly become high-profile under the guise of someone innocent. How would you go about, how do I put this lightly?” Lucretia paused. “… destroying them?”

“Wow, er, okay… can I ask you very quickly why you need an answer to this oddly specific and strangely murdery situation?”

“It’s for my crossword.”

“Crossword?”

“Yes, my crossword.”

“What are you? Middle-aged?”

“Yes.”

“Oh… yeah…”

Magnus looked sheepishly away and leant forward, his elbow on his knee. The two sat in silence, Lucretia watching him waiting for an answer and Magnus becoming oddly pensive about the problem put before him. Magnus eventually leant back and asked, “Does the ‘enemy’ in this situation pose a danger to people?”

Lucretia froze a little, thinking, before saying “Yes, I guess so.”

“Then I’d say ‘rushing in’ isn’t the best plan of attack-“

“Wow, really?”

“Yeah, I know right! Character Development!” Magnus announced proudly before continuing. “I’d say you have two angles: go all secretive and do it quietly, but you can’t be found out because conspiracies and blah blah.”

“And the other?”

Magnus paused for a second, his face becoming concentrated and intense, before saying, “Draw them out. Make the people see them as the enemy. Make them reveal their true nature publicly and hopefully, the worse they are, the better the support.” Magnus laughed nervously for a second. “Sorry, that came out more intense than I hoped for. That was the plan I used on…”

Magnus had stopped, his eyes had gone wide, and he started to look around feverishly. Lucretia rose with him and tried to steady him by putting hands on his arms.

“Magnus? Magnus, what’s happening?”

“The static, I just heard static.”

In that moment, Lucretia acted quickly. Using a finger behind her back, she cast a spell that created an illusory static sound. She started to turn around herself.

“Yes, I hear it too! I wonder,” looking down, she saw the Wand of Broadcasting, “oh! It’s this.” Using another spell to create some sparks from it, she waved it and then returned it to its place on the couch. “There, it’s off now. Sometimes if you leave it on standby, it can… do… that.”

The static had continued for a little while after Lucretia offered him this reasonable explanation but he grasped at the chance of an easy mind and took Lucretia’s word for it. He sighed and smiled and said, “I guess I’m a little jumpy.”

“You would be, bud. Be nice to yourself,” Lucretia said, putting an arm through her friend’s and pulling him to the stairs, “or I will be forced to mother you.”

Magnus stopped them both dead in their tracks and smiled at his friend. In that moment, he had pulled her into a hug to which Lucretia eased into, finally laying her hands on his back and her head in his neck.

“Seeing as Barry has joined the angels of death, I just realised that we are the only ones left on Team Human.”

Lucretia laughed as Magnus said this, their hug ending. Magnus put out his hand for Lucretia to shake and when she had rolled her eyes, she took his hand What followed was a series of intricate and compilated manoeuvres that could only be interpreted as a secret handshake. It ended with the two of them hip bumping and firing finger guns at each other. Lucretia remembered when Barry and Magnus had made this up (Barry simply being swept along by Magnus’ fervour) she was reluctant, but she eventually joined Team Human with joyful glee and they would keep changing the handshake to keep from Taako and Lup learning it. When the handshake ended, Magnus began to tear up slightly. Lucretia raised a hand in confusion to his arm in comfort.

Magnus spoke in a small voice, his eyes filled with tears and hurt. “Please don’t go away for that long again,” he said, before pulling in another hug, “Come to Candlenight dinners and Lup and Barry’s, come to Calamity Day with us, come to Anti-Fantasy Ren-Faire with us…”

“I will.”

She had cut him off and ended the hug. Her smile was full of meaning, they needed no more words. Magnus nodded and began to walk upstairs and when he reached his door, he looked back down at her as she sat down on the couch once more and he smiled. 

Entering through the door above, Lucretia heard the door close. Quietly, she moved quickly to collect all the necessary equipment. Casting Light, she looked down at her blank piece of paper illuminated by the spell. But as she began to sketch things out furiously, and start pulling books out of thin air, there was a slight knock on the door. 

Lucretia spun around, wand raised. If this was Kalen, she was going to raise hell. He knew what they could all do and was likely prepared so she stood tall as the knocking sound came again, and again. 

Lucretia was about to blow the door out when a small voice came from outside.

“Madame Director, we know you’re there,” it said, the voice familiar and instantly making Lucretia raise a hand to her face. “It’s us and we’re here to solve the case!”

Walking over and opening the door and the figures she found were colourful and again familiar. One was large with dark green skin and brown hair; the other was small and blue with scales all over. The last was the shortest and standing at her feet, looking up at her through large spectacles.

“We came as soon as we can,” Angus McDonald said in a serious tone, “May we come in?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright! Hope that was good enough for ya! So yeah, Ango is here and I can't wait to write tender father son moments between Magnus and him, also bants between Carey and Magnus obvs.
> 
> Next chapter promises to be a real hum-dinger so stick around! Hopefully it won't take me another three months but here goes!


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